Protection, restoration should be

This commentary is to inform all citizens of the County of Lake and California who enjoy the great outdoors and wildlife. The Center for Biological Diversity with the help of some of the local tribes is petitioning the California Department of Fish and Game and the Federal government through the U.S. Department of The Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service to have a subspecies of the hitch, the Clear Lake Hitch listed as either an endangered or threaten species under both the California Endangered Species Act (CESA) and the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA). This petition to list the Clear Lake Hitch is very disturbing to me as a former Wildlife Biologist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal Plant Health Inspection Service, Wildlife Services (USDA/ APHIS/ WS).

My job while working for USDA/APHIS/WS was the protection of threatened and/or endangered species up and down the coast of California. As a biologist I was trained and believe that every species has value. They are all cogs in the bigger wheel we call the ecosystem. Just because we as humans haven't figured out how they fit in to the bigger picture, every species contributes to the concept of "biodiversity." All species have value, however we define the term value, even species that some would designate as "trash species." Even with this said there are several reasons why this petition is so disturbing to me.

First, there isn't any true scientific based data that I can find with regards to whether this is a true subspecies of the hitch or just a geographically isolated population of hitch. Other so called subspecies of hitch have been identified in drainages of the Sacramento-San Joaquin rivers and in Monterey Bay. To my knowledge no scientific testing like DNA testing has been conducted to determine whether or not these are distinct subspecies. While working on San Clemente Island, off the coast of California, protecting the San Clemente Loggerhead Shrike it had to be determined through genetic testing that this particular bird was a true subspecies of the Loggerhead shrike before any protection under the ESA could be afford to this subspecies. Additionally, there is reference in the currently available data about the Clear Lake hitch existing in the Russian River.

Without first obtaining this information how can a determination be made on whether or not there is risk of extinction of this subspecies? Furthermore with regards to populations and their sizes there is no scientific data on what the population of Clear Lake hitch is and what would be considered a sustainable population.

Second, the methodology used to determine the number of hitch appears to be flawed and does not take into account if the hitch spawns in other areas around the lake. So far the only data currently available is data collected by our local tribes using monies provided under Federal Grants during the hitches spawning runs through tribal lands or adjacent lands. When dealing with species population there is a term used called carrying capacity, which refers to the number of individuals a certain ecosystem can sustain. No one has developed using sound scientific methodology what the carrying capacity for Clear Lake is for the hitch. We don't know what a health population number is or how low the individual count can go and still be a viable population. So in reality the petition submitted by the Center for Biological Diversity is based on inadequate information.

Third, if this petition for listing is accepted and approved by either agency the amount of protection afford to the Clear Lake Hitch will be staggering. Any development, agricultural or recreational activity that has even the slightest potential of affecting the Clear Lake hitch will have to be analyzed and mitigated in order to move forward. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, but in these economic times any barrier to growth is going to have devastating effects. It will be another layer of bureaucracy that will need to be overcome, or as most people see it an additional expense. Habitat restoration and protection shouldn't be a mandate from the Federal or State government it should be done because it's the right thing to do in order to protect our environment. If regulations need to be developed it should be local government taking the lead. Once a species is listed under the ESA, critical habitat needs to be identified and protected.

All proposed activities become single species driven, meaning that if it can be proven that the proposed activity can affect the listed species then mitigation has to be developed to less the impact before the management activity can be implemented. The strange part of this requirement is the ESA doesn't distinguish between positive or negative effects. It just brings up that if a proposed action has an effect that it needs to be addressed. An example of how must power a listed species has under the ESA would be while I was working on San Clemente Island to protect the San Clement Loggerhead shrike it was proven using video surveillance that a California threaten species, the Channel Island grey fox was a predator of the shrike. It was eventually lead to limit lethal control of the grey fox despite it being a California threaten species.

Fourth, the potential impact to established agriculture and agricultural practices here in Lake County through is great. California has a water usage law called Riparian rights which in part means that if a property abuts a water source like a lake, pond, stream, creek, etc., that the property owner has the right to pump water from that source. The water that is pumped out can't be wasted and the property owner can't take all the water, but they do have the legal right to use the water for beneficial purposes. If the Clear Lake hitch is listed the practice of riparian right has the distinct possibility of being severely limited or eliminated. If this happens it certainly will have an adverse effect on farming practices with riparian rights. Additionally, if it could be proven through scientific data that ground water pumping was having an impact on the flow rates of the steam and creeks that the Clear Lake Hitch use to spawn then there is a distinct possibility that ground water utilization will be severely curtailed or eliminated.

Well, unfortunately, space is limited and I haven't even touched on the economic impacts that this potential listing has on our local economy. In the petition for listing that has been submitted to the government agencies, the Center for Biological Diversity has indicated that they believe that all non-native sports fish such as largemouth bass and other introduced game fish in the lake should be eliminated. Considering how much money sport fishing contributes to our local economy, anything that hurts fishing at Clear Lake will have a devastation impact on business and citizens of Lake County.

There is so much that could be said on this one topic it could fill volumes. Once a species is listed under the Endangered Species Act economic impacts are not considered and the only way to address these impacts is through litigation. Money is tight for most businesses and people. Currently hiring a lawyer to stop this poorly supported petition is something most of us can't afford. The time to stop this petition is right now while it's still under consideration and before this mistake is made.

I have worked on the protection and recovery of the following listed endangered or threaten species in California; California least tern (Sterna antilarumbrowni), Belding savanna sparrow (Passerculussandwichensisbeldingi), Salt marsh harvest mouse (Reithrodontomysraviventris), California clapper rail (Ralluslongirostrisobsolotus ), Western snowy plover (Charadriusnivosus), and the San Clemente loggerhead shrike(Laniusludovicianusmearnsi).